Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-10-27

at MilosiS will be instantly and unhesita-
tingly acted upon by the resident priest of
little country-tOwn three or four hun
dred miles off. They are the judges Of the
land, criminal and civil, an appeal lying
only to the lord paramount of the district,
and from him to the king; and they have,
of course, practically unlimited jurisdic-
ton over religious and moral offenses. to-
gether with d right of communication,
which, as in the faiths of more highly civ
ilized lands, is a very effective weapon.
Indeed, their rights and powers are almost
unlimited; but / may as well state here
that the priests Of the Sun are wise in their
generations, and do not push things too
far. 1t is but very seldom that they go to
extremes against anybody, being more ~
clned to exercise the prerogative of mercy
than run the risk of exasperating the pow
erful and vigorous-minded people on whose
neck they have set their yoke, lest it should
rise and break it off altogether.
Another source of their power is their
practical monopoly of learning, and their
very considerable astronomical knowledge,
which enables them to keep q hold on the
popular mind by predicting eclipses and
even comets. In Zu-vendis only a few of
the upper classes can read and write; but
nearly all the priests have this power, and
are therefore looked upon as learned men.
The law of the country is on the whole,
mild and just, but differs in several re-
spects from our civilized law. For in
stance: the law of England is much more
severe upon offenses against proTAGty than
against the person, as becomes a people
whose ruling passion is money. A man
may kick his wife to death, or inf1ct hor-
rible sufferings upon his children at a
much cheaper rate of punishment than he
can compound for the theft of pair of old
boots. In Zu-vendis this is not so; for they
rightly or wrongly look upon the person as
of more consequence than goods and chat
tells, and not, as in England. as a sort Of
necessary appendage to the latter. For
murder the punishment is death; for trea
son, DEATH for defrauding the orphan and
the widow, for sacrilege, and for attempt
ing to quit the country (Which is looked on
as q sacrilege) death. In each case the
method Of execution is the same, q rather
awful one. The culprit is thrown alive
into the fiery furnace beneath one of the
affairs to the Sun. For all other offenses.
including the offense of idleness, the pun
ishment is forced labor upon the vast ma
tional buildings which are always going
On in some, part of the country, with or
without periodical fioggings, according to
the crime.
The social system of the Zu-vendi allows
considerable liberty to the individual, pro-
vided he does not offend against the laws
and customs Of the country. They are
polygamouS in theory, though most of
them have only one wife on account of the
expense. BY law man is bound to pro-
vide a separate establishment for each
wife. The first wife also is the legal wife,
ard her children are said to be 'of the
house of the Father The children Of the
other wives are of the houses of their re-
spective mothers. This does not, however
imply any slur upon either mother or chill
dren. Again, first wife can, on entering
into the married state, make q bargain
that her husband shall marry no other
wife. This, however, is very rarely done,
as the women are the great upholderS OF
polygamy, which not only provides for
their surplus numbers, but gives greater
Importance TO the first wife, who is thus
practically the head of several households.
Marriage is looked upon as primarily
civil contract and subject to certain con-
dren, is dissoluble at the will of both con
>racting parties, the divorce, or unlock
ing" being formally accomplished by go
ing through certain portions of the mar
riage ceremony backward.
The Zu-vendi are, on the whole, very
kindly, pleasant, and light-hearted people.
They are not great traders, and care little
about money, only working to earn enough
70,
in which they were born. They are eX-
ceedingly conservative, and look with dis
favor on changes. Their legal tender is
silver cut into little squares of different
weights; gold is the baser coin, and is about
of the same value as our silver. 1t is, how
ever, much priced for its beauty, and large
ly used for ornaments and decorative pur-
poses. MOST OF the trace, however, 10 var-
ried on by means of sale and barter, pay
ment being made in kind. Agriculture is
the great business of the country, and is
really well understood and carried out,
nearly the whole available surface being
under cultivation. Great attention is also
given to the breeding of cattle and horses,
the latter being unsurpassed by any have
ever seen either in Europe or Africa.
The land belongs theoretically to the
Crown, and under the Crown to the great
lords, who again divide it among smaller
lords and so on down to the little peasant
farmer who works his forty ''reestu,"
(acres) on a system of half profits with his
immediate lord. In fact, the whole system
is, as [ have said, distinctly feudal, and it
interested us much to meet with such an
old friend far in the unknown heart of AT
RIGA.
The taxes are very heavy. The state
takes a third of a mans total earnings, and
the priesthood about five per cent on the
remainder. But, on the other hand, if a
man through any cause falls into bOnG.fde
misfortune, the state supports him in the
position of life to which he belongs. If he
is idle, however, he is sent to work on the
government undertakings, and the state
looks after his wives and children. The
state also makes all the roads, and builds
all town houses, about which great care is
shown, letting them out to families at a
small rent. 1t also keeps up a standing
army of about twenty thousand msE, and
provides watchmen, etc. In return for
their five per cent, the priests attend to
the service of the temples, carry out all re-
Iigious ceremonies. and keep schools where
they teach whatever they think desirable,